The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-11-24


Honolulu, going to a fire." but as that
power is shared by numerous other and
more appropriate officers this function of
the Governor seems antiquated and useless.
Section 379 of the Civil Code invests the
Governors with powers to inspect and APP
prove weights and measures. Your COM
mlttee think this duty more appropriate to
the Police Department, and have therefore
amended the bill so as to transfer this duty
to the Marshal and Sheriffs within their re-
spective jurisdictions.
Section 247 of the Civil Code imposes upon
the Governors certain duties in regard to
registration and certifcation of brands and
marks. Your committee consider it en-
tirely appropriate and conducive to the
public convenience that the very meagre
duties under this section of the Code shall
be transferred to the Marshal and Sheritfs,
and therefore support the proposition to
that end IN the bill.
By Sections $50 and 361 of the Civil Code
the Governors are authorized to superin-
tend and direct the Marshal and Sherifs in
the preservation of wrecks and wreckage
cast upon our shore. Your committee, IN
view of the fact that the Police officers are
now in practical control of this subject, en-
dorse the proposition of the bill to transfer
them to the sole authority in the premises.
The drafts drawn by District Justices
upon the Treasury, for the payment of their
salaries, require by Section 478 of the Civil
Code the countersignature Of the Governors
of their respective islands While your
committee think this requirement a useless
ceremony, yet they consider the proposition
to transfer this authority to the Marshal
and Sherifs as being preferable to a new
Act to amend the section named, and so
recommend such transfer. But in view of
the provisions of Section of the Act we
recommend the striking out of the words
Assessors and Tax Collectors - from the
twelfth line.
The selection of jurors is now made by
the Governors of the different islands, act
ing in concert with judge of a Court of
record, as provided by Chapter XVII. of
the Laws of 1870, Comp. Laws, p. 358.
Your committee are of opinion that the
Marshal and Sheriffs may we'll be substi-
tuted for the several Governors, and so rec
Ommend.
We also consider that the Marshal and
Sheriffs may well be entrusted with the
very few duties now incumbent upon the
Governors as to the shipping and discharge
of native seamen upon vessels engaged in
foreign trade The country and the Ha-
waian race, in the opinion of your commit
tee, have entirely outgrown the necessity
for this official guardianship of Hawaiian
seamen, yet while the statute providing for
such guardianship remains on the books
your committee endorse the proposition of
the bill to transfer it to the Marshal and
Sheriffs.
The result of our investigation with re-
gard to Section 1 of the bill, therefore, is
that we recommend that the same do pass,
with the exceptions nOted-viz:
The striking out of the words g Assessors
and Tax Collectors " from line II, and the
insertion of a line between lines IA and Is
to read: 6" s. The testing and certifcation
of weights and measures"
We recommend that Section of the said
bill do pass without amendment
Section Of the said bill refers exclusively
to the relations between the Minister of FL
nance and the Assessors and Collectors of
taxes. The law, as it now stands, provides
for the appointment by the Minister of
Finance, upon the nomination Of the Gov
errors, of Tax Collectors for the different
taxation districts. The Governors, under
the present law, are responsible to nobody
for the just discharge OF their present du-
ties By the terms of their commissions
they hold office for four years, with no OBJ
legation to any superior as to the methods
by which, or the. honesty with which thew
l,,l1 i; a,aI,, IL
is positively no restraint upon them, save
that of self-interest, or such as conscience
may impose, to prevent the appointment OF
unfit or dishonest men to office. 1t seems
fitting, in the opinion of your committee,
that the Assessors and Collectors should be
directly appointed by, and directly respon-
sible to the head OF that department. which
is the aim and purpose of Section 3 of the
bill. 1t seems needlessIy tortuous and in
convenient that the collectors of taxes
should be responsible to the Governors who
are responsible to no one, and inconsistent
that the internal taxes of the Kingdom
should pass through the hands of officers
Gas at present they pass through the hands
OF the Governors) who are under no respon-
sibiiity in the way of bonds for the faithful
disposition of such sums. We think it well.
however, to provide for the transfer of the
tax lists from the Assessors to the Collect
OrS, through the hands of an officer resi-
dent on the island where the duties of such
collectors lie, which is provided for in Sec
ton of this bill.
We therefore recommend that Section 3
of the bill do pass, with the amendment
that the figures {" 80 and 9 81, - in line a,
and the words g as amended, )" in line %, be
stricken out, and that the words and Sec
tons So and 81 of said Chapter, as amended
by Chapter XXXVII. of the Session Laws
of 1886" be inserted after the figures 1882
in line %.